To celebrate Pope Benedict's 80th birthday on Monday, here are some Pope facts:
- Pope Benedict XVI was elected pope at the age of 78. He is the oldest person to have been elected pope since Clement XII in 1730.
- Along with his native German, Benedict speaks fluent Italian, French, English, Spanish and Latin. He can read ancient Greek and biblical Hebrew.
- Benedict plays the piano and has a preference for Mozart and Beethoven.
- Pope Benedict XVI is the first pope to own an iPod.
- Pope John Paul II called Cardinal Ratzinger to the Vatican in 1981, and Cardinal Ratzinger and Pope John Paul II had weekly 90-minute meetings followed by lunch.
- You can email the Pope: benedictxvi@vatican.va
- When Pope Benedict XVI visited his house in Pentling, Germany, September 13, 2006, Rubert Hofbauer, the pope's next door neighbor, who cares for the pope's house now that the Holy Father is in Vatican City, set the pope's table with several jars of honey from the bees Mr. Hofbauer keeps in the pope's garden. "I know he misses his house dearly, and he told me so when I visited him in Rome. He asked after his garden, the flowers, even the bees, and after our two animals, Chico, the cat, and Igor, the Golden Retriever." Chico visited Pope Benedict XVI often when the pope lived in his Pentling, Germany, home.
- Pope Benedict XVI still has the stuffed animals his mother made for him when he was a child. Pope Benedict XVI's favorite meal is Bavarian potato ravioli with pancake strips.
